Terri

A Teenage comedy/drama

• Written by Patrick deWitt
• Directed by Azazel Jacobs

Terri (newcomer Jacob Wysocki) has problems well beyond those of your average adolescent. For one thing, he’s extremely overweight. He lives with a mentally-ill uncle. He dresses only in pajamas, and gets to school late almost every day.

On the upside, the school’s guidance counselor (the always dependable and wonderful John C. Riley) has taken an interest in Terri. Maybe that’s not such a good thing; this counselor didn’t strike me as particularly competent. He switches from trying to hard to sound cool, even calling Terri "Dude," to yelling at him for no real reason. He offers laughably bad advice. He’s perfectly comfortable giving one kid information about another kid’s problems.

Yet the general feeling is that he’s helping–at least a bit. He’s better than having no guidance counselor, at all.

Especially since Terri gets no guidance at home.  Uncle James (Creed Bratton) needs more help than his teenaged nephew. A couple of scenes suggest a once-considerable intellect, and he has his occasional moments of clarity. But by and large, Terri has to take care of this gentle but disabled soul, cooking for him and making sure he takes his medication.

Screenwriter Patrick deWitt and director Azazel Jacobs wisely chose to leave a lot about their relationship unexplained. We’re never told exactly what Uncle James is suffering from or what happened to Terri’s parents. Are they dead? Did they desert their son? When asked about his mom and dad’s whereabouts, Terri simply states that he doesn’t know.

The person who asks is another troubled kid. Chad (Bridger Zadina) is the sort of teenager who thinks his antisocial ways make him a rebel. Their experiment in friendship–something neither of them has any experience in–is tenuous at best. It isn’t helped when Terri makes a new friend–the beautiful blonde Heather (Olivia Crocicchia). And no, love does not conquer all.

Jacobs’ second feature walks a wonderfully fine line between comedy and drama, finding the humor in Terri’s situation—and the situations of other sufferers around him—without ever sacrificing empathy. The filmmakers show a keen and sympathetic eye for the reality of adolescence.

I saw Terri at the 2011 San Francisco International Film Festival.